Tendulkar completes one year without a ton

Bangalore, Mar 12: It is exactly one year today since Sachin Tendulkar scored his last century in international cricket. It was on March 12, 2011, that Tendulkar scored his last hundred in international cricket.

Tendulkar has been stuck on 99 international hudreds for 12 months now. It was in Nagpur, against South Africa that he got his last ton in the World Cup.

When Tendulkar scored 111 in that match in Nagpur, the Indian fans expected him to reach the 100th international ton milestone in the next four World Cup matches. But that did not happen and the wait will continue as India play their first match in the Asia Cup on Tuesday against Sri Lanka.

Since that 111, Tendulkar has played 22 international matches (11 One Day Internationals and 11 Tests) but has failed to reach three-figure mark.

Since Nagpur, he played four World Cup games including the winning final against Sri Lanka in front of his home crowd in Mumbai on April 2, 2011. Then played seven tri-series ODIs in Australia recently.

After the World Cup triumph, he went to England where he played four Test matches. Then returned home to play three five-day matches against the West Indies. Then four Tests followed in Australia.

The closest he came to reaching the landmark was in November 2011 in Mumbai. He was batting on 94 against West Indies and expectations were high on that day. But Ravi Rampaul broke millions of Indian hearts by dismissing the Master Blaster.

There have already been calls for Tendulkar to give up the ODI game. However, he was chosen for Asia Cup and the fans are hoping that he would reach the land mark before the tournament ends on March 22 in Bangladesh.